The 7 biggest U.S. IPOs ever – including some surprises

This year has been a record showing for initial public offerings in the U.S. Companies have raised $73.6 billion so far this year, a more than 84% gain from 2013.

The figures are certainly helped along by one of the massive offerings below (see: Alibaba), but the boom nevertheless reflects the strength of the overall market. The third quarter saw the highest proceeds from IPOs of any quarter since the end of 1999. Not only that, this year’s offerings have performed well, returning an average 8.3% from their offer price, according to data compiled by Renaissance Capital.

Even though this has been a standout year for new issues, it has featured only one of the biggest IPOs ever. On the whole, IPOs this year have raised much more modest sums. For example, Alibaba’s record-breaking $22 billion offering was larger than all the other IPOs combined during the third quarter. The other six blockbuster offerings stretch back as far as 1996.

Wall Street takes a battering on fears about Europe

U.S. stocks fell sharply at the start of trading Thursday, brought down by flagging European shares as the health of Portugal’s third-largest bank hangs in the balance.

By mid-morning, the Dow Jones industrial average and the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index had both seen their largest declines since May 20 and May 15, respectively, according to Bloomberg data. At the morning’s low, at about 10 a.m. ET, the Dow was down 180 points.

The S&P financial sector fell 0.7% to its lowest level since May 15.

Shares of Portugal’s Banco Espírito Santo plunged in Europe as the country’s stock market regulator suspended trading pending a statement from the bank. Fears about the bank’s stability sent shockwaves through the European markets.

Portugal was the third eurozone country after Greece and Ireland to require a financial rescue. Since then the country has enacted harsh austerity measures to get the economy back on track, such as cutting spending and economic reforms.

The mid-May market slide was a reaction to weak euro-zone GDP growth and mixed U.S. reports that revealed an improving job market amid faltering housing demand and industrial production.